I am watching my first reality show and am surprised by how I'm hooked. It's "Alone: Arctic Circle" and it being based on the Mackenzie River is what started me watching it, as I long wanted to paddle the Mackenzie. I am surprised by how several of the participants quit because of their emotional responses to being alone. They had the skills to continue and were feeding themselves, but being alone was too emotive for them.

I've spent aggregate months alone in the wilderness, largely feeding myself, and never reacted negatively to it. Rather, I loved it. My longest stretch was five weeks, but I've also spent months alone on big rivers like the Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers with occasional human contact. I have also interviewed world-class adventurers who've traveled thousands of miles into the wilderness. One paddled from Washington state to the Chilkoot Trail, partway down the Yukon, cross-country to a cabin he'd built years ago, which he discovered was burned to charred timbers, and then out to the Bering Sea, which he paddled south. He said two things that still ring in me, one that he was still "raw" from all he'd endured and the other was that even though he was tenderized, he couldn't drive a bridge over a river in Minnesota without wondering what was around the bend. In short, he'd taken a beating, but his curiosity wasn't beaten out of him.

Some people have the notion that they'll thrive alone and imagine themselves spending happy years in the wilderness, but a few of these contestants folded in days or a couple weeks. I don't have to wonder how I'd fare. I know I'd be fine.

How about you? Have you ever dreamed of being alone in the wilderness? How do you think you'd fare? Why?

Nope. I like thing ama bobs and doodads too much to even consider it.

I love this subject, and I love that show. The guy who won the first episode( I think ), was from Blairsville Ga. I picked him to win, and rooted for him . He won. He was good with skills but strongest in his mentality.

Another guy quit the first night because he heard animals in the brush. I’ll be honest , I called him a few names out loud.🤠

These were on vancouver island.^^

Then they had episodes in the mongolian wilderness. One of the contestants figured out how to catch fish in the river, and he lived high on the hog until… it got real cold and the fish quit biting.

On the same episode, a young man from Nebraska and the fisherman were the last 2 contestants. I thought for sure the fisherman would win , but he quit. The Nebraskan that won is actually a friend of my oldest son, who was stationed there in the airforce.

Personally, I think I have the mentality for it, and certainly would figure out how to catch fish. I did a lot of primitive camping when I was younger, but other than survival in the south, I’d need to brush up on and learn/ relearn bush craft before doing it..especially in cold areas.

Fun to think about, but at 65 that ship has sailed. ☺️

6 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Fun to think about, but at 65 that ship has sailed.

Yeah, I hear ya.

I'm glad you added to the thread, Mike. I read your post with high interest and now I'm going to read it again.

8 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

The Nebraskan that won is actually a friend of my oldest son, who was stationed there in the airforce.

Did your son share any info about the winner? I'm wondering about his temperament.

11 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Another guy quit the first night because he heard animals in the brush. I’ll be honest , I called him a few names out loud.🤠

He should have been vetted/screened way more than he was. It's noisy in the wilderness at night. Most animals are nocturnal. If he wasn't acclimated to the night noises, that's on the casting director for choosing him.

13 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

He won. He was good with skills but strongest in his mentality.

Mentality matters most. A strong mind trumps a strong body.

I love to watch Alone. Don’t watch a ton of tv, but I’ll watch that one. Those folks have some amazing skills. Didn’t realize a new season had started.

I always think “I don’t mind being alone whatsoever, sometimes actually prefer it. Then I remember that what ever skills I had were learned in Army basic training in 1978, I’m 66 now and have forgotten the vast majority of those skills.” For what it’s worth, I do have a fire starter around here somewhere.

I was once an avid backpacker and have done many solo trips.

Never once did I feel alone or experience fear.

The driving force behind the adventure was to be alone and be remote while hanging in a hammock.

Still have all the equipment and still go occasionally.

This show is so good. The surviving part would be easy compared to the homesickness for me.

For as long as I can remember it never bothered me to be alone.

I do a couple of solo camping trips a year, my wife is not thrilled about that.

I have to call her in the morning that I woke up, and then after fishing that I made it back to camp.

I do quite a bit of solo fishing day trips too.

While I have no issue's with being alone, I do enjoy fishing with a good buddy as we can brag to each other and bust chops, especially around a campfire while having a couple of beers.

Funny story; while I was still working I came back from a solo trip where it had rained most of the time, co-worker ask me what did I do while it was raining, I said it gave me a lot of time to work on my manifesto, I was pretty much left alone after that. 🙃

I've seen most of the seasons of this show. Some of them are better than others. Usually the individual who is able to harvest big game will win. I can recall a couple of seasons when food was very difficult to come by and they were all basically slowly starving. I didn't care for those seasons.

I am not a wilderness person, I dislike camping, and I need modern amenities like clean water, electricity, and air conditioning. But I spend a fair amount of daily time alone. At work, fishing, hunting, and when I travel for work too. For this reason, I've become very independent over time. But I always have a backup/contingency plan too. Establishing a reliable line of communication with back up is mandatory.

I don't think I would last very long on the show itself. If I had modern equipment and more resources, then I probably could. But the challenge is to make due with what they give you, and I don't see myself lasting more than a week.

I don't walk to the mailbox unarmed, so I'm never gonna be a contestant. Scared of being alone, never, I'm a armed 260 lb American man. But I have my wife, MIL, and my dog(Bailey) that I'm a care giver for. I do enjoy the show.

It goes without saying that I’d never leave my wife, and wouldn’t want to abandon my kids (even though they’re adults). But for the sake of argument, let’s say somehow I’m single and my kids leave overseas. Does that sound appealing?

I have always gravitated to the idea of living alone in the wilderness. In a log cabin built by myself. Subsisting on fish and game caught and killed by myself. Growing vegetables and fruits or foraging for nuts, berries and other edible plants. Although I am a sociable person, I find comfort and peace in solitude. And while that can be found in a McMansion as well as Manhattan, there is no solitude such as can be found in nature.

I still vividly recall an episode of either Wild World of Sports or American Sportsman in the 70s, of two college-age guys who canoed around the Great Slave Lake and lived off the fish they caught. To me, that seemed like like paradise.

I like toilet paper, tried using moss, leaves, bark and corn husks and didnt work out well so big NO for me. True story, after camping in California on the Columbia river for 5 days got home and ended up in the doctors office with bad case of poison oak on my genitals, groin, rear end and arms, missed 4 days of work because of so many blisters and itching and had to get a shot.

Did your son share any info about the winner? I'm wondering about his temperament.

@Swamp Girl All I know is they met at church. They had a mutual respect because of him winning on the show and my son being a black belt in Brazilian ju jitsu.

On 5/23/2026 at 8:15 AM, Swamp Girl said:

I am surprised by how several of the participants quit because of their emotional responses to being alone. They had the skills to continue and were feeding themselves, but being alone was too emotive for them.

A couple of you mentioned fear, as in not being afraid, but in this season of "Alone," health challenges and emotional challenges led to contestants "tapping out." Several of the contestants reported regular crying episodes and cried on camera. My last solo stretch in the wilderness was about ten years ago and lasted 21 days, but even though I'm an emotional person, I never cried on that solo trip nor any other. I enjoy being alone in the wild. I would have stayed longer except for family obligations.

I have enjoyed watching Alone. And I love the wilderness. Over the past six years I have been involved in wilderness escapades every year in the Colorado mountains climbing 14ers and 13ers (peaks exceeding 14,000 and 13,000 feet). A significant number of the climbs can be completed as day hikes, although we are talking 8 to 16 hours of hiking depending on the mountain and the difficulty. For many of these day hikes, I drive a 4wd Tacoma up to trailheads and hike a few mountains from there, while camping in a truck tent for five to seven days. For the mountains that do require a hike to a base camp location, the trips typically do not require more than four to six days of backpacking.

The biggest danger on these trips is not the length of time in wilderness, nor finding plants and animals to eat because I carry food with me. It is the climbing at altitude and the chance of taking a fall on class 3 and 4 terrain. As a "flatlander" at 14,000 feet we are only able to take in approximately 60 percent of the oxygen we normally receive at sea level and it takes a month or so to acclimatize to the altitude. Until then, every day you climb you become quite winded especially above 12,000 feet. "Embracing the suck" and training all year long to have the aerobic capacity to climb at my age is required to make it to the summit . Below are some pics from last year and also the last two pics are from Maine's Mount Katahdin for @Swamp Girl.

Pic below is from the summit of El Diente Peak.

A selfie from the top of El Diente.

Early in a climb of Wilson Peak which is on the left in the pic. This was a "moderate"
hike of about 10 miles and 4000 feet of elevation gain.

At the summit of Mt Katahdin. I take off my backpack for pics if there is enough space to lay it down.

The most difficult part of Katahdin's Helon Taylor Trail is the climb up to these peaks and then crossing them on the ridge to the high point.

You are hardcore @senile1. Love your pics.

@Swamp Girl, I would say that you spending 5 weeks in wilderness is very hardcore. You Maine residents are quite fortunate to have Baxter State Park set aside for perpetuity. I love that place.

I have considered it. I do get lonely. I would be completely fine if it was me and 1 other person. But completely alone, I think I'd go through an initial phase of not being able to handle it, but I'd be okay because I'd talk to my God and that'd keep me company enough. I'd come out of it closer to him for sure.

Never watched Alone. But I am a huge Naked and Afraid fan.

As far as a desire to be alone in the wilderness.....yes and no. I can for sure see myself taking off and camping at remote locations for several weeks at a time. But that would be car camping and there would be a purpose such as hiking a specific peak/area or fishing stretches of a river etc.

But to take on a challenge like Alone or Naked and Afraid. Not sure how I'd fair. I'd for sure need to hone up on survival skills. But from a mental, emotional and physical perspective, maybe do okay.

Thinking this is a good place to post this.

Here's my new addition to backpacking,

A flat lay hammock, hanging tent.

I've got 8 nights in it and it's a game changer.

@Bird, that is wicked cool! I didn't know there was such a thing.

Never seen the show but I will look it up.

Had all the "camping" I wanted in the Army! Holiday Inn Express is roughing it for me.

I prefer to be alone. I can entertain myself.

I get along better with animals than I do people. Give me a dog over a human any day.

I like people, I just don't want to be around them.

Love the show Alone.

Pre kids I'd have no problem being alone (skill is another topic) for as long as it would take to win that show. With kids now it would be tough and I wouldn't willingly do it unless there was the money attached to it at the end that I could provide a better life for them. The sacrifice for that would be worth it, but not just for fun, it would feel selfish of me.

I dont get the people who tap out within the first 2 weeks though unless something forced you into tapping out. I cant understand what they expected the show/experience to be about. I'd give the first season a pass since no one had anything to go off of, but seasons 2+ got to see first hand what was going to happen and what it would be like. Even naked and afraid people can starve themselves for 3 weeks and last with no shelter or clothes.

The wife and I are big fans of the show alone. She always jokes me and says I would be a natural for the show since I am happier by myself than having anyone around, and that even the bears would get tired of my grumpiness and leave me alone. lol

Never heard of the show, and don't watch much television. There are a few shows the wife and I will watch.

I really thrive being alone. Work at University has me supervising 12 people, supporting 3k+ students...lots of personal interaction. When I am away from work, I want to be away from people...(but really love being with my wife, our kiddos, and their significant others...and my brother, sister, their families).

I thoroughly enjoy hunting and fishing alone. Would take the entire week of deer rifle season and wander around the Sandhills on foot chasing Mule Deer. Got a Garmin In-Reach just in case...

I stayed in a hotel, so hot shower, warm bed, etc. That week re-energized me!

I try to fish once or twice a weekend by myself.

I will have to check out that show...